Top 10 Famous American Gangsters of all Time

They are bad, they are notorious, they are nefarious but they’ve lived their life with no regrets. They’ve sinned? So does Christian Grey from “Fifty Shades of Grey”, but he’s that god sent devil every young woman out there desires. You think these sinners were not desirable, ask the American Police. The epitome of power they had their way with the police, senators, politicians and the President. Oh Yes, you thought they were scared? Not when they share a mistress with the President. Gambling, drugs, human trafficking, prostitution rackets, heists, murders…name it and they’ve done it. They don’t indulge in luxury, they define it. The real godfathers- the actual game of thrones is this. No obstacle shall ever withstand their will and ambition; such is how they carved their place in the History of America. They are not just who films are made of, they have once engineered reality. The perpetrators of fear, of power and of more money than they could spend these gangsters are unforgettable. They dwelled in fame by being infamous, such blissful dwelling to them. You’d be mighty pleased that you didn’t get to be a known face to these 10 people; they’ve been known to know people for all the wrong reasons. So thank your stars and get to know the most notorious American gangsters.

10. Carlo Gambino

They say virtues run in your blood, vices do too. Carlo Gambino belonged to the family of Mafia’s in Sicily and predictably so, he could fire a gun before he actually learnt to walk. Challenged by Mussolini’s rise to power, he fled to America and there with his cousin and popular American Gangster – Paulo Costello, he left no sin undone. They argue he wasn’t American but ask Americans and they’d let you know of the terror he perpetrated. From freelancing for New York Mafias to taking a permanent position with Luciano and ultimately getting Anastasia killed for his claim to power, this man had no fear of God, neither of the living. He was practically the ruler of New York- a much sinister one till he died of natural causes in 1976. Some mercy on New Yorkers it was.

9. Griselda Blanco

To those who believe the Underworld is a Man’s world, you don’t know of Griselda Blanco. If the men have their way, she had her destiny too. She is a pioneer of the cocaine drug trade in Miami, no wonder she came to be recognized as the Cocaine Godmother. But she didn’t have her way easy. She spent her adolescence as a prostitute and pick pocket and was witness to everything illegal. As an adult too, she was indicted of Federal Drug Conspiracy charges and the sentence was to last 10 years. But if you were as strong as her, you’d know where there is a will, there is a way. She reportedly continued her Cocaine Business from the Miami jail. Some guts there!

8. Louis “Lepke” Buchalter

While his counterparts earned money by all nefarious deeds that came their way, this man chose to keep it focussed as the owner of ‘Murder, Inc.,’. The organization had thousands of killers who were paid to kill. All the big names of New York and Chicago are believed to have needed Buchalter’s services atleast once to get their enemies killed. Some famous members of the group included Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano and ‘Bugsy’ Siegel. Buchalter wrote history by being the first and only major Mafia to be electrocuted in the United States on March 4th, 1944.

7. John Herbert Dillinger, Jr

The Robin Hood gangster who scores better with public than with government. Perhaps the only one to score in that aspect, Dillinger once while looting a crowded bank had said “Stay calm, ladies and gentlemen! We’re here for the government’s money, not yours! The government steals from you, so we steal from them.” He was nevertheless greedy and even bounty wasn’t bountiful enough. Killed by a bullet that passed through his brain, Dillinger never died for he remained immortal in the pages of American history.

6. John Joseph Gotti, Jr.

The man who kept every crime he committed a secret, he is famous as the ‘Teflon Don’. He was though secretive of his crimes, he was boastful of his skill to keep the deeds a secret and it was this flaunting of success that angered the FBL and led them to create intolerable pressure on his enterprise. He was the real gangster for the public lived in fear even while he awaited his trial in jail. He could order murders from anywhere and that made his the master of all crimes. Gotti was convicted of racketeering, murders, loansharking, illegal gambling and all other crimes with the most famous being cutting his neighbour Favara into pieces with a chainsaw. He died in 2002 in prison of Throat Cancer. Sometimes cancer ain’t that bad, is it?

5. Lucky Luciano

The father of modern organized crime in United States, Lucky Luciano can be credited for splitting the country into five Mafia Families. Some will and testimony …eh? This man left no stone unturned in being familiar with most gangsters of his time, making him not just infamously popular but famously as much. Known to Americans for his organization of the National Crime Syndicates of the United States, he led the Genovese crime family and established the first commission of crime in United States. Some law and order there…who said gangsters defied all of those?

4. Richard Leonard Kuklinski

At 6 feet 5 inches and a hefty 300 pounds, he looked every bit the gangster they show in the East Asian films, but Richard Leonard Kuklinski was much more. A serial killer more than a gangster, this man would probably be better known than others on the list for his crimes have been remembered as recent as only a decade back on his death in 2006. He was ruthless and maybe that made him work with the Gambino crime family for over 30 years. He never blinked an eye before committing a murder and his raging temper spared none- innocent or otherwise. March 5th, 2006 may have been a blessing to many on his death in prison due to natural causes. Maybe late, justice is always well served.

3. Albert Anastasia

Psychopathic tendencies and hyper ambitions made him known as Mad Hatter but this man grew on his weaknesses. After serving prison for 18 months he grew only more ruthless in his crimes and thus climbing the Mafia’s ladder several steps at once. One of his much known murders is that of Guiseppe Masseria, the then crime boss in New York which he committed while a member at Murders Inc corporation. Before he was assassinated by two cloaked gunmen in his own hotel room he ruled the Gambino crime family from 1951 to 1957. Some relief from his psychopathic tendencies his death was. To him too maybe.

2. George Clarence Moran

Moran was lesser known as Moran than he was known as ‘Bugs’. Now have you questioned someone “Are you bugs?” Think again before doing it now that you know. He was named so because he was believed to be power crazy once he came to power as the boss of Chicago’s Irish North Side gang and hence displayed no signs of fears in provoking the enemies. Moran killed, not for business but for his ego. He established the phenomenon of ‘drive-by-shooting’ and it is hence no surprise for him to be featured as one of the deadliest Gangsters America has produced. While his war with Capone is a legendary war in itself, the people of the USA were once again rescued by cancer when Moran died of Lung Cancer in Leavenworth.

1. Alphonse Gabriel Capone

He was born to rule, not just the underworld scene of America but the list of deadliest Mafias the World has ever produced. Famous of being a sociopath with quick temper, he was not surprisingly nicknamed Snorky by his best friends. He attacked a female teacher at the age of 14 and from then there was no looking back for it was only the intensity of the crime that kept growing. He was not addicted to crime, only to making money. But crime made making money easier and so he resorted to all sorts of smuggling, trafficking, murders, thefts and gambling. There wasn’t one who would cross him and not face a tragic end. No wonder that this man was America’s richest, most nefarious, most notorious gangster ever. God’s vengeance delighted all for his end in 1947 due to syphilis was no less tragic. But the name remains immortal-the blessing of Satan himself.